Furnace apparatus



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0. A. GRAS.

FURNACE APPARATUS. No. 568,899. Patented Oot .'6', 1896.

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No. 568,899.. Patented Oct; 6, 1896.-

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FURNACE APPARATUS.

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UNITED STATES I CHARLES A. GRAS, OF NEW YORK, N.

Y., ASSIGNOR TO FRANCIS DEIMEL,

OF SAME PLACE.

FURNACE A PPARATUS.

SlECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 568,899, dated October 6, 1896.

Application filed February 24, 1896- To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that LOHARLEs A. GRAS, a resident of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented certain new and use- 5 ful Improvements in Furnace Apparatus, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to furnace apparatus, and has for its object to produce an appararo tus for facilitating the quick burning of the fuel, which is specially applicable to a furnace forming the subject-matter of a companion application filed by me on the 24th day of February, 1896, Serial No. 580,411.

To this end myinvention consists in the construction hereinafter set forth and claimed.

My invention will be understood by referring to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a longitudinal section through a furnace forming the subject-matter of a companion application and to which the present invention is especially applicable, the same being introduced to illustrate the construc- 25 tion of the said furnace. Fig. 2 is a front elevation of a furnace apparatus embodying my present invention as well. Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail view of a door of thefurnace and its connected apparatus, part of the ap- 3o paratus being in section. Fig. 4 is a section on line 4: 4 of Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a plan view of the parts shown in Fig. 3. Figs. 6 and 7 are side and plan views, respectively, of a part of the apparatus hereinafter referred to; and 5 Figs. 8 and 9 are similar views of another part of the apparatus hereinafter referred to.-

Referring particularly to Fig. 1, A is the side wall of the furnace; B, the top wall; C, the front wall, and D the back wall or firebridge. E is the boiler, which has a steamdome F, from which a steam-pipe J leads, which pipe is controlled by a suitable valve K, situated near to the steam-dome and having an operating chain or cord 0', (or other suitable operating device,) which extends over a sheave L and down in front of the-furnace. This steam-pipe extends into the furnace and is provided with jet-formin g means I), which project an end jet or jets 1) downward, preferably against a step d of the back wall d, and with j etforming means b which project an inclined jet or series of jets 19 Serial No. 580,410. (No model.)

which form a curtain over the grate G, and with jet -forming means 6 which project side jets 11*. By this means the smoke and heavier products of combustion are caused to circulate over the coals and be burned, the lighter products of combustion escaping through the steam curtain. My improvement upon this structure is mainly directed to devices for facilitating the prompt and efficient combustion of the fuel.

By referring to Fig. 2 it will be noted that the furnace-doors U are composite and each consists of a slotted section N, which is covered by a similarly-slotted section N which is carried upon pins or balls at, so that when the slots in the sections register with one another air will be admitted to the furnace through the door, and when the solid portions n of the section N cover the slots in the section N air will be prevented from passing to the furnace through the door. It will be obvious that between these extreme positions the amount of air entering through the doorswill be proportional to the amount of slot left uncovered, all of which will be readily understood.

Referring now particularly to Fig. 3,wherein the mechanism is shown in enlarged detail, it will be observed that the door N is hung upon a shaft N with which it turns, the shaft being provided with a bevel-pinion N which meshes with another bevel-pinion N carried upon a shaft N on the front wall of the furnace. Carried also upon shaft N and freely moving thereon are sleeves N N from which lugs or ears N project, which lugs or ears are joined by a rod N The lower ear N is pivotally connected by a link N with the sliding member N of the furnace-door. Mounted also upon the front wall of the .furnace or some other place adjacent to the furnace-door is a slide-moving device 0, (shown in the present instance as a cylinder O',) within which a piston 0 works, which piston has a rod 0 which carries a rack O". The side of the cylinder is slotted for the passage of the toothed segment 0 which meshes with the rack 0 and is car ried upon the shaft 0. An arm 0 is likewise provided upon the shaft 0 and-is connected by a flexible connection 0 with one of the lugsN". This lug N is preferably the one carried upon the sleeve N which sleeve has a downwardly-projecting lug N (shown clearly in Figs. 3 and 6,) which en gages with an upwardly-projecting lug N on a sleeve N, which is rigidly carried upon the shaft N below the sleeve N The cylinder O is provided with a relief or escape valve 0 and a regulable air-inlet valve 0 The shaft N 6 may be provided with an arm N which may operate the valve N in the pipe J to regulate the admission of steam to the furnace. Suitable mechanism may intervene between the arm N and the valve N such, for instance, as the arm N 7, which is connected with the arm N by the link N The mechanism which has just been described is duplicated upon the other door of the furnace, the pipe J forking, as shown clearly in Fig. 2, for the purpose of regulating the inlet of steam to the fuel nearest the door operated.

Having described the door mechanism, I will now proceed to define, clearly some of its uses, purposes, and its mode'of operation.

It has been found essential in furnaces to heighten combustion by giving the air access to the coal immediately after the furnace has received a firing, that is to say, as soon as a few shovels of coal have been thrown on an already-burning fire it has been found advantageous to permit access of the air to the coal to insure its prompt ignition. It has likewise been found that the generality of firemen are unreliable in this respect, so that some mechanical substitute for human fallibility has been. found desirable. This I accomplish by my mechanism for opening the fire-door and closing the door and causing or permitting the sections of the fire-door to close together slowly, so that for a few seconds after the fire-door is closed air will still be admitted and will be slowly shut ofi. To that end the handle N turns the. shaft N communicating motion through the medium of bevel-gears N 5 N to the shaft N thereby swinging open the furnace-door, and the lug N bearing against the lug N will cause the sleeve N and its connected sleeve N to turn therewith The furnace may now be fed or fired with coal. When now it is desired to close the door, the handle N is given a motion reverse to its former motion, which will have the effect of closing the door to, but the sleeve N being freelyrevoluble on the shaft N will not follow the motion of the shaft N because there is considerable room for lost motion between thelugs N and N Operating thelever N to open the door had also the effect of shutting off the steam from the furnace by operating the valve N and the movement of the door likewise effected the raising of the piston O by the chain 0 and segment 0 theair escaping through the relief or escape valve 0 as the piston rose. I The parts in'Fig. 3 are shown in theposition which they have assu'medjust as the furnacedoor is closed, the slots in the sectionfNiof the furnace-door registering with the slots of the section N of the furnace-door, so that there is an inrush of air through the grating so far; but at this moment air beginning to enter the cylinder 0' through the inlet-valve 0 and the piston being supported it will begin to descend slowly, its rate of descent depending upon the adjustment of the adjustable inlet-valve 0 and as the piston descends its swings the segment 0 and its shaft 0 thereby pulling upon the flexible connection O and swinging the sleeves N N to slide the door-section-N across the face of the door-section N, which movement will continue as the piston descends, thereby grad ually covering the slots in the section N,

so that air will be gradually shut out of the furnace.

It will be obvious that this apparatus is capable of modification without departing from my invention.

WVh-at I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a furnace apparatus, the combination of a slotted f urnace-door combined wit-h dooroperating means, a slotted slide carried upon the furnace-door, a piston provided with a. rack, a pivoted toothed are cooperating with the rack, and a connection between the arc and the slotted slide.

2. In a furnace apparatus, the combination of a slotted furnace-door combined with dooroperating means, a slotted slide carried upon the furnace-door, a piston provided with a rack, a pivoted toothed arc cooperating with the rack, and a flexible connection intervening between the arc and the slotted slide, substantially as described.

3. A swinging slotted furnace-door, a vertical shaft connected thereto, a horizontal shaft geared to the vertical shaft, the said two shafts com prising the furnace-door-opening mechanism, a piston provided with a toothed rack, a pivoted toothed arc meshing with the rack, a slotted slide carried. upon the furnace-door, and a connection between the slide and the arc comprising in its structure a lost-motion device such as the sleeves N N and their lugs, substantially as described.

4. A horizontally-swinging vertically-slotted furnace-door combined with operating mechanism therefor, a steam-supply over the furnace-door having a valve therein, the said valve being rigidly connected to the said furnace-door-operatin g mechanism,a piston carrying a rack, a toothed arc meshing with the said rack, a slotted slide carried upon the furnace-door, and a connection between the arc and the slide whereby the slotted slide will be slowly moved to close the slots in the furnace-door when the door has been closed. 

